


How art thou fallen from Heaven

by Aegwynnn (Ogawdy)



Category: Warcraft (2016), World of Warcraft
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angels, F/M, M/M, Supernatural AU - Freeform, mix of movie and game canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-04-30 03:19:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14487699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ogawdy/pseuds/Aegwynnn
Summary: Lothar has been chosen by Heaven to fight against demons trying to invade Earth. When his guardian angel Medivh falls from Grace, a new angel is sent to look after him. His name is Khadgar.Submission to the Liontrust fanwork fest 2018





	1. 1 through 4

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eriakit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eriakit/gifts).



> Submitted to the Liontrust Fanwork Fest 2018 by **eriakit**
> 
> Guardian angel au - Khadgar is Lothar’s new guardian angel after his old angel, Medivh, fell from grace. Lothar doesn’t want an angel but Khadgar doesn’t seem to care. Khadgar is the most annoying guardian angel ever but Lothar grows to appreciate it

* * *

Summer was right around the corner when Anduin heard a knock at the door. He went to open and there was Medivh. He looked awful.

“You’re late,” Anduin told him.

All Medivh did was nod. Anduin invited him in. As was his habit, Anduin grabbed two beer bottles from the fridge and offered him one. As always, Medivh declined.

“I’ll get you to try one someday, you know.”

When that actually got a scoff out of Medivh, Lothar started to seriously worry. He rested his back on the kitchen counter, watching the other. Medivh looked tired. When he had not answered his calls a few days ago, Lothar had immediately known something was wrong. Medivh showing up on his doorstep today was only confirming it.

Lothar toyed with the neck of his bottle.

“I was in a fight with a harpy the other day. Vicious creatures they are but she just so happened to know something about a demon downtown. So of course I kill her and go check out if her infos were correct. It turned out they were, so I tried to call you and…”

“I’m sorry, Lothar,” Medivh interrupted him. “I couldn’t hear you.”

Lothar frowned. “What the fuck happened, Med? I had to take down that demon all on my own. What happened to that whole 'guardian angel' gig of yours?”

Medivh sighed. “They’re going to send you a new angel.”

Lothar gaped. He put down his beer so he wouldn’t drop it should Medivh have any other such statements he wanted to make.

“What?” Lothar asked. “Why?”

Medivh avoided his gaze, instead looking out the window, his chin catching the light and revealing the stubble there.

“I’m not your guardian angel anymore, Loth. I’m sorry. That’s why I couldn’t hear you when you called me. I’m glad you’re alive and I wish I could have been there but there was just nothing I could do.”

Lothar shushed him. “Wait, what is going on? Why can’t you be my angel anymore? Med--”

He turned to look at him, his blue eyes looking dull.

“I fell from grace, Lothar.”

The human was sure he could see tears in his angel’s eyes.

“What does that mean?” He whispered.

Medivh gave him a sad smile. “That means they’ll be sending you a new angel. Try not to die before they do.”

He extended a hand as if going for a handshake but Lothar was unable to react. Arm falling to his side, Medivh left the kitchen. He was stopped before he could open the door of the apartment.

“I don’t want a new angel,” Lothar told him. “I’ve already got you.”

Medivh didn’t turn to look at him.

“Be careful, Lothar,” he said before leaving.

The door closed and Lothar found himself more alone than he had ever been in all his thirty-seven years of life.

*

This demon was a feisty one, fond of throwing people into walls and making sharp objects fly around. Lothar barely dodged a pair of opened shears, flattening himself on the ground.

“Ria!” He screamed. “I could do with some help here!”

Over the sounds of the many blades cutting the air and planting themselves into various pieces of wood, walls, furniture, Lothar could hear his sister chanting the exorcism, voice steady. Recognizing the words, he knew she was close to the end. Perhaps that was why the demon seemed to be trying extra hard to kill him.

Lothar rolled over right as several knives sunk into the floor where he had been. Jumping to his feet, Lothar faced the demon. Its face was distorted with fury and pain, more monstrous than human and yet under it all, he could still recognize the body of the human woman it had taken possession of. A wife, a mother whose husband and two children were standing outside right now.

Lothar had wished they could save her. He should have known better.

Taking a large intake of breath, Lothar tightened his hold on the blade he had been holding ever since this whole thing started. He had put off using it until now, but Lothar could see more than one place where their constraining circle was starting to weaken. Taria still needed a bit more time before the exorcism was finished. They couldn’t afford to have this demon escape.

With a yell, Lothar charged forward. His blade entered the possessed body and exited on the other side. The demon’s wailing was interrupted by a shocked gasp and all the flying objects fell to the floor at once.

Not wasting even a second, Lothar took out his pocket knife and planted it across the demon’s throat so no sound would be able to exit its throat anymore. The demon’s red eyes stared at him. Lothar took a few steps backwards, afraid how the demon would react now. The blade stuck in its chest was enchanted to bind demons. It couldn’t kill them-- hardly anything could-- but it was powerful enough to stop most of them, anyway.

Behind him, Taria reached the end of the exorcism.

“Te expelleo, daemon. Inferis quis aedem tuum vocas reverte et nunquam terram nostram calca jam.”

With the combined power of the words and the blade, the demon exploded. Lothar and Taria were thrown into the walls by the force of the blast, falling to the ground, breath knocked out of them. Taria stood up first, running first to check on Lothar. The silence surrounding them was eerie, the absence of the demon insidious. Once sure Lothar was breathing and not badly injured, Taria turned towards the victim.

The woman laid face down on the wooden floor, an expanding puddle of blood around her head. Her eyes, back to their natural brown where the demon's eyes had been all red and glowing. Before she even reached her, Taria knew she was dead. Even if there hadn’t been a knife protruding from her neck, demonic possession was almost always too hard on people and they died as the demon exited their body.

Taria raised her head as she heard hurried footsteps in the hallway.

“Don’t come in!” She tried to warn.

Too late. The husband, closely followed by his two daughters, twelve and ten years old, skidded to a stop in the doorway. Taria knew only too well what sorrow filled his heart in the moment his eyes registered the sight of his wife lying dead in a pond of her own blood.

While she was expecting them to start screaming and wailing, the three of them simply stared as silent tears streamed down their cheeks. The husband’s eyes met Taria’s and she saw him glance at Lothar’s unconscious body. She tried to express how sorry she was for his wife while also showing her relief at her brother’s well-being. He nodded once and turned around.

“Come on, girls,” he said, “let’s leave the lady to take care of things here.”

“But mom…” tried to say one of the weeping children.

The father stooped down at her level, grabbing her firmly by the shoulders. He forced her to look at him instead at the mutilated body of her mother.

“Mom has left us. She went to meet God, just like grandpa did last year, remember? I know you’re sad but we need to tell her goodbye now. Don’t you think it’d be better to say goodbye once she’s clean and pretty? Don’t you think your mom would have liked that?”

The little girl nodded and they all left. Taria hung her head, restraining her tears. Pulling herself together, she first proceeded to drag Anduin out of the way, laying him down in the hallway which seemed, in comparison to the living room, so incredibly neat and normal.

Walking back into the living room, Taria grabbed the duffel bag they had left lying about. She pulled out a large black tarpaulin which she laid out. She then lifted the woman’s dead body onto it. She stared at her wide-open and unseeing eyes for a half second before making her decision.

Pulling out gauze and cleaning alcohol, she proceeded to wipe the woman’s face clean of blood. She carefully removed the knife from her throat, immediately applying a cloth to the wound so it wouldn’t start spilling blood all over again. She did the same for the chest wound, handling the enchanted weapon with the extra care she did all things holy.

Only after that did she wrap the victim into the tarpaulin, then dragged her out in the hallway. Anduin was slowly coming back to awareness, blinking and head lolling. She sat beside him.

“You did good,” she told him. “The demon is gone.”

“The woman…?” He managed to mutter.

Taria tightened her lips. “I’m sorry, Anduin. She died.”

A single tear escaped his eye, rolling down his cheek and into his collar. Taria brushed his face, leaning forward to kiss him on the forehead.

“Don’t worry about anything now. Let me take care of it”

“Thanks, Ria,” he said.

She left him to go back to the room the demon had thoroughly wrecked. She doubted any furniture could be salvaged. The first step, however, was to remove all the knives and other makeshift spears that had been sunk into the walls.

It took her over an hour before she deemed the room fit for viewing by the members of the family. She had cleaned the blood as best she could, but the wood planks would probably do with being replaced.

She then sought out the husband. She found him in the kitchen, staring out the window as his two kids sipped on a cup of hot chocolate. Taria cleared her throat to make her presence known. Without a word, she gestured for him to join her outside.

“Here’s the number for the funeral home we work with. They have a doctor who can announce the death. You won’t have any trouble.”

“Thank you,” he told her genuinely.

Taria nodded, face grim.

“Could there have been anything you could’ve done to…?” He then felt brave enough to ask.

Taria sighed forlornly. “I’m sorry, sir, your wife was probably already dead before we even got here. Demons don’t tend to care for their vessel.”

He nodded with far more energy than he probably had right now. She laid a hand on his arm, squeezing once.

“Take care of your girls, Mr Newman. They’re going to need you.”

The piece of paper in his hand trembled as he tried to suppress his tears.

Taria hesitated. “I can make a call for you to a therapist… He only ever sees patients in their home. He knows what we do. He can help.”

He looked at her with gratitude gleaming in his eyes. He grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

When they walked back in, Anduin was up and in the kitchen, talking with the two girls. He looked up when Taria called him and he quickly said goodbye. They never stayed around for very long.

**

 

Lothar pushed the door to his apartment, discarding his boots and blood- and dirt-stained shirt in the entrance.

His sister had dropped him off in the back alley behind the apartment complex so he could go in by the emergency stairway. He rarely ever saw anyone there and if he did, it was mostly people who would never question the blood or other substances he sometimes came home drenched in. This place was shady enough no one thought to ask him what he did for a living but not too shabby that he couldn’t live comfortably.

The first thing that hit him when he entered his apartment was the smell. Lothar wasn’t the type to live in his own dirt but he wasn’t exactly a clean freak either. He was pretty sure his place did not smell like this when he had left this morning. And by 'like this’ he meant clean.

The air smelled of flowers.

Barefoot and half naked, Lothar went from the tiny entrance to his living room which was also his bedroom. The whole place had been cleaned up. No more leftovers on the table, no more wrappers and newspaper cutouts on the floor nor stuck to the walls. Lothar reached behind his back and grabbed his gun.

There was light under the closed kitchen door. Inside, he could hear the sound lf running water and things bumping together. Faintly, he thought he heard whistling.

Lothar kicked the door open, gun cocked and ready to fire on the intruder. He was a young man, with a ridiculous moustache, and a mop in his hands. He stood still, eyes widening, in the middle of Lothar’s kitchen.

“Who are you?” Lothar barked.

“Wow, okay, calm down,” the stranger started saying.

Lothar took one step forward but did not get to go farther. The stranger's eyes momentarily shone blue and Lothar was swung onto the wall. He groaned loudly as the shock awakened all his sore muscles from having been thrown into walls repeatedly all afternoon by a demon.

When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on the sofa and the stranger was sitting on the armchair in front of him, watching him. He must have passed out. Lothar started upright but had to lie back down as quickly as it revived the pain in his back. The stranger cocked an eyebrow.

“You really need to relax or you’ll break something.”

Lothar groaned.

“I am Khadgar,” the stranger suddenly introduced himself.

“You’re an angel,” Lothar grunted. _My angel_ , he thought.

“Yes.”

“Can’t you heal me?”

“I could.”

A minute passed. Lothar stared at Khadgar staring at him.

“Are you going to?” Lothar let out.

Khadgar grinned. He stood up suddenly and went to the window. He parted the closed curtains under Lothar's confused gaze “Do I call you Anduin or Lothar?”

“Seriously?” Lothar cried out, twisting his neck despite the pain. “I can’t even get up here!”

Khadgar turned to look at him again, the same big grin on his face. “What would you do if I wasn’t here?”

“If you weren’t here, Medivh would heal me,” Lothar muttered bitterly.

The grin disappeared from the angel's face at once. Grimly, he said: “Yeah well Medivh’s not here, is he.”

“No, he isn’t.”

Lothar glared at Khadgar, daring him to say another word about Medivh, and Khadgar glared at him, for reasons unknown to him.

“And I am not Medivh,” Khadgar stated.

Lothar opened his mouth to retort but Khadgar disappeared with a puff of smoke. Coughing, Lothar waved his hands to disperse the smoke. He stood up to quickly open the window. Only when the breeze outside started dissipating the smoke did he realize all his pain was gone.

***

The next call they got was at 5am the next morning and was about a suspected werewolf halfway across the country. Lothar wanted to know why they were called instead of someone closer and Taria told him to get ready. He hung up and did as he was told.

He hated to admit how nicer it was to get up at 5am before dawn to a clean kitchen and so he tried to ignore the gratitude he felt towards the angel. In a way, Khadgar had been right. Never would Medivh ever have cleaned his apartment.

Taria called him ten minutes later and he went down to meet her in the car. They drove as fast as they could without breaking speed limits because the last thing they needed right now was to be stopped by cops when their trunks was filled with varied weapons and tools. Besides, werewolves only operated at night so they were safe for about fifteen hours. That gave them enough time to go around the town and track the werewolf down before getting down to the real business.

They got there as 10 o’clock came about. The person who had called them was a fellow hunter who had only been in this business for two years. Apparently Lothar and Taria had been in this town before to deal with a local vampire who was draining the neighbours’ pets. Lothar scoffed.

“Werewolves and vampires, what is this, Twilight?”

The girl, whose name was Sallie, did not find that funny. Lothar let Taria do the talking. Sallie had never had to deal with a werewolf before. Mostly what she got around here were imps and some low ranked demons who didn’t even try that hard not to get sent back to Hell. She did have to deal with the massive epidemics of vampire pets but she assured most of them were fine being fed mouse blood for now.

She had them meet her dog, Dracula. Lothar thought it was cute. Taria glared at him.

It only took them four hours to hunt down the werewolf with Sallie’s help, which turned out to be invaluable. She knew everything about the town and its people and, thanks to the habit she had picked up of keeping every single local newspaper issues for the past two years, they got a pretty good overview of when, how and where this werewolf was operating.

Because there were still hours before sundown, Lothar decided to go get a beer. Sallie offered to bring him to a bar she was used to going. They asked Taria if she wanted to come, but she declined, saying she should better ready their equipment for tonight. Lothar knew she was dying to call her husband Llane, who was currently at home.

While at the bar, Lothar became suddenly aware of the fact Sallie was hitting on him, nevermind the nearly twenty years separating them. As she slid closer and closer to him on the bench, Lothar grew sourer and sourer and that only brought him to get drunker and drunker. When he found himself in the bar’s toilet actively making out with her, he realized he had had too much to drink.

Sloppily apologizing to her, he stumbled his way out of the bar, throwing money on the counter under the pitying gaze of the patron.

Good luck explaining that to Taria. He did his best to ignore her questions as he fell face first into the mattress on one of the two beds in the motel room they had rented.  
“You got drunk again?” She finally figured out.

Lothar groaned into the pillow. He could hear Llane’s laughter through the phone. He could not see how any of this was funny.

“Well,” Taria said, “you better sleep if off because it’s three hours til sundown.”

Despite what has transpired that afternoon, Sallie was waiting for them at the convened spot as sunset painted the sky pink. She looked pissed but managed not to let it affect the way she spoke with him. She was a true professional. Lothar was still drunk.

They had decided to meet their man at his home before the effect of the curse could arise. The man, bordering his fifties, was married with one teenage daughter but both the girl and the wife were staying at the wife’s parents home for the past six months. Everyone had assumed it was because he had cheated on her but now they had a different theory.

Sallie knew him because he used to go to school with her parents. He invited them in, offered them scotch or vodka, which Taria politely refused for the three of them, and then asked what they were doing here.

“We’re on a hunting trip.”

“Wacha hunting?”

Taria and Lothar exchanged a look. “Wolves,” Lothar decided on.

The man’s eyes became very sad. “That’s against the law, you know,” he said quietly.

“When that wolf has been hurting people, it’s our duty to put him down,” Lothar continued even as Taria widened her eyes at him, trying to get him to shut up.

Sallie was looking back and forth between the three of them.

The man sighed and got up, discarding his glass on the coffee table. He went to stand by the window, where the night was getting deeper and deeper. When he turned to look at them again, his eyes were two bright silver orbs.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” he growled.

Lothar reached for his back pocket but wasn’t quick enough to draw his gun. The werewolf jumped forward, crushing him under his weight. Sallie had her gun out but hesitated in shooting.

Lothar struggled under the weight of the wolf whose jaw was trying to close around his neck. He couldn’t handle him for much longer.

“Just shoot it!”

“I can’t!” Sallie shouted. “You’re both moving too much, I could hit you.”

“Ria!” Lothar yelled.

The door slammed open as Taria ran back in. She had rushed out as soon as the werewolf had attacked. She slipped the silver-lined leash around the rabid animal’s neck, yanking it sharply. The wolf howled out in pain as the silver burnt his skin.

Scrambling, Lothar got onto his feet. No longer trapped under the beast, he could see the transformation was still incomplete. The bottom half was still very much human but the whole upper body was that of a wolf.

“Quick!” Taria ordered. “Somebody shoot him before he breaks free of this!”

Lothar immediately grabbed his gun but Sallie beat him to it. She fired her charger into the beast’s back. Instead of weakening it, however, it only enraged it further.

Sallie's eyes bulged out as every single bullet which had broken the skin was pushed out of the flesh and fell to the ground with a scatter.

With renewed energy, the werewolf turned around swiftly. Taria couldn’t hold onto the leash and they saw it ready to pounce.

“Sallie, to the ground!”

Luckily for her, she reacted in time for the wolf jumped towards her and, seeing as she dropped flatly on the floor, flew right out the window. It landed on a parked car and triggered the alarm. The noise along with that of the breaking glass had more than one neighbour staring out their window as the werewolf stood upright in the street, its monstrous figure outlined by the moonlight.

A gun fired and the werewolf yelped as the bullet grazed its arm. It turned its yellow glowing eyes towards Lothar, whose gun-holding hand was trembling.

Lothar cursed.

“Goddammit, Anduin!” Taria shouted right as the wolf leaped back into the house, aiming for him.

Lothar ran. He raced out of the house and down the street, hearing the beast’s heavy footsteps behind him. Over the sound of growling, he recognized that of Taria’s car turning on. Gunshots rang out but none hit the werewolf.

Working on adrenaline, Lothar made a sharp turn, finding himself on an empty road leading to pitch-black openness. There were no buildings on the side of the road anymore.

The wolf’s jaw closed to his right side and Lothar turned left, barely noticing the change of soil beneath his feet. He did hear the car skid to a panicked stop and Taria’s voice hollering. “For fuck’s sake, Lothar, that's the forest!”

Realizing what a giant mistake he had just made, Lothar managed to find it in him to run this much faster despite the fact he could see nothing in front of him and risked running into a tree anytime. He heard the beast breathing louder and louder behind him and Lothar’s heart stopped beating.

There was a flash of light and the night was suddenly silent. Lothar blinked. Through the blinding light, he thought he saw the shape of a man standing between him and the werewolf. The wolf was cowering but Lothar could not hear him. As the light faded out, he was sure he saw the very distinctive shape of two wide-opened wings.

Darkness fell as suddenly as it had been annulled by the bright light. Lothar's hearing came back and yet there were no more sounds coming from the wolf.

“Anduin!” He heard.

“Over here!” He found it in himself to yell back.

He saw two figure running towards him holding flashlights. He shielded his eyes and waved them over. Taria and Sallie arrived, stopping next to him.

“What the hell happened?” Taria asked, breathing heavily. “We saw, we saw light coming from here, and then it was gone. What was it? Where’s the wolf? Did you get it?”

“And how are you not even remotely out of breath?” Sallie pointed out. “You just outran a literal werewolf!”

Lothar could only shake his head slowly at all their questions, as he didn’t know the answers either. When they approached where Lothar had last seen the wolf, they found it back in its human form, stark naked and not breathing, lying in the grass. There wasn’t a single wound on his body, save from where Lothar’s bullet had grazed him.

Unable to explain it but glad they had gotten rid of the menace, Taria and Lothar bid farewell to Sallie, who seemed to have forgotten all about this afternoon’s events while hunting down the werewolf. Lothar was silent for the whole of the ride home but Taria did not push him. He stared out of the window, scanning the darkness.

He would have died, he knew, had Khadgar not suddenly appeared and obliterated the werewolf pursuing him. There would have been nothing Taria nor Sallie could have done to stop that werewolf from slaughtering him. But when the whole forest had been drenched in blue light for blinding seconds, a great calm had overcome him. When he could finally see again, Khadgar had been nowhere around, but Lothar knew it had been him.


	2. 5 through 8

When Lothar went out on the streets this morning, it was raining. He hadn’t taken an umbrella because he was unsure if he even owned one. He never disliked the rain anyway.

He came out of the supermarket his bag heavy with the four pots of peanut butter he had just bought to make up for the painful lack of any in his house. Acknowledging a beggar right next to the exit, he reached in his pocket to take out a bill. The beggar’s face was obscured by a unkempt beard and he wasn’t dressed nearly well enough for this type of weather. But that was not what had Lothar stare at him for long minutes after dropping the bill in the man’s hat.

The beggar finally lifted his head, his eyes a blue which, although they were strikingly clear, still held a sense that they used to shine much brighter.

“Medivh?” Lothar recognized him.

A small smile crept up underneath the beard.

“Hello, old friend.”

Extending a hand, Lothar helped him up. He glanced up and down Medivh’s figure, noticing how badly in shape he looked.

“What has happened to you?”

“I fell,” Medivh answered.

Lothar remembered their last conversation.

“Heaven has discarded me. I am mortal now.”

Lothar’s fist closed in anger as he tried to control the surge of feelings inside him.

“Well I don’t care. You’re coming home with me.”

He half-expected Medivh to protest but he did no such thing, picking up his scarce belongings.

“It won’t be much and we’ll be a bit crowded but it’ll still be a roof above your head.”

As they walked, Medivh whispered: “Thank you.”

Somehow, Lothar wasn’t sure it was addressed to him.

Right as he pushed the door to his apartment, Lothar knew it wasn’t empty. Khadgar was standing at the window, eyes lifted towards the clouded sky. The rain had stopped but the sun still didn’t shine.

Khadgar turned around as soon as he heard the door close. His eyes darkened as he noticed Medivh. Lothar could feel Medivh bracing himself next to him. Determined to avoid any confrontation between his two angels, Lothar removed his boots and coat.

“Khadgar,” he greeted. The angel nodded in acknowledgement but his gaze did not leave Medivh. “Medivh will be staying with us for now on.”

“Of course he will,” Khadgar said in a cold tone.

Lothar sighed out of frustration. “Do you have a problem with that?” So much for avoiding conflict, he thought.

Medivh wouldn’t move from the entrance.

Khadgar’s eyes finally met Lothar’s. They stared at each other for long seconds, each of them challenging the other. Khadgar disappeared, forgoing the puff of smoke.

Medivh’s whole body relaxed at once. “So they sent you Khadgar…” he whispered.

“You know him?”

Medivh looked down at the ground, a haunted look on his face which Lothar could not miss.

“He was my apprentice before…” Medivh trailed off.

Lothar wanted desperately to ask him questions about how he fell from grace and what exactly that meant, but he knew that was the last thing Medivh needed right now.

“Bathroom’s over there,” he told him despite Medivh knowing that fully well, “you can borrow clothes from the closet in there.”

Medivh nodded his thanks and soon after Lothar heard the water being turned on. Satisfied, he went into the kitchen to prepare some food for the both of them. He jumped out of his skin when he came face to face with Khadgar, sitting on the counter.

He looked pissed.

“Jesus Christ, give a guy some warning.”

“Please don’t call the name of the Lord in vain,” Khadgar said.

Lothar could have smacked him on the head had he not noticed the small smile at the corner of Khadgar’s mouth.

“He’s staying,” Lothar said instead. “What the fuck do you care anyway?”

Khadgar tensed up.

“Medivh was an angel, one of the brightest of us. When he fell, I can’t begin to tell you how we all felt. He is paying for what he did to us, for his selfishness. But you wouldn't understand.”

Lothar slammed his hands on the counter. Faintly, he heard the water turn off.

“I wouldn’t understand?” He exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down. “I don’t care! I don’t care what Medivh did. He could have killed God that I wouldn’t care--”

“Lothar--”

“Now, you listen there, Kaddy-o, you might be my angel now, but Medivh’s been looking after me since I was freaking born.”

“What did you just call me?” Khadgar’s eyebrow rose quizzically.

Lothar ignored him and kept going.

“Meanwhile, you save me once and don’t even give me time to thank you before disappearing again for days without a word.”

Khadgar rolled his eyes.

“I don't need to be thanked, saving you is my job.”

“Well if you hate it so much, why don’t you quit?”

Khadgar stared at him incredulously. Eventually he scoffed and went to turn away.

“Don’t you dare disappear on me again, Khadgar,” Lothar warned him.

The angel stilled. Lothar swallowed, wondering whether threatening an angel was such a good move on his part.

“You’ve been on this job for two weeks. It’s time we set some rules.” Lothar stared down Khadgar who met his gaze fiercely.

“One,” Lothar stated, “you don’t disappear without warning whenever the conversation starts getting too uncomfortable for you.”

Khadgar bristled, not unlike how a bird would.

“Two, you accept my thanks when I give them. I know you’ve been ordered to keep me alive by the angel government or something, but I don’t care. You save me, I thank you.”

Khadgar’s gaze faltered slightly, but still he glared at him.

“And three, you won’t say another disparaging word about Medivh while I’m around. Got it?”

Khadgar resisted for a few seconds before nodding sharply.

“Good,” Lothar said.

“Can I leave now?” Khadgar asked curtly.

He waited for his answer, looking like a small child who had just been scolded. Another minute more and Lothar wouldn’t have been surprised if he started crying. Shocked, Lothar nodded. Khadgar was gone instantly, leaving him feeling emptier than he had ever felt before in his life.

_What have I just done? Did he just abandon me?_

“Angels can’t quit the mission they've been assigned,” Medivh said behind him, as if hearing his thoughts. Perhaps he could. “He’ll be your guardian angel from now on whether either of you likes it or not.”

Lothar stared at the place where Khadgar had been mere moments ago. When he turned to look at Medivh, he didn’t try to hide the turmoil what had just happened had unleashed in him. What he saw replaced the sorrow by terror, however.

Medivh’s skin had turned blue.

“Oh my G…,” Lothar almost blasphemed. “Medivh you’re freezing!”

The man was wearing Lothar’s clothes which were way too big on him and trembling.

“You don’t know how to adjust the water's temperature, do you?”

Through clicking teeth, Medivh answered: “I just thought you humans liked the cold.”

With a laugh, Lothar led him out of the kitchen, throwing him a couple of blankets and ordering him to snuggle on the couch while he heated some water to make tea.

Tomorrow they would buy new clothes.

*****

After two weeks, Medivh finally got the hang of the shower knob. He no longer froze or burnt himself while showering. Lothar was proud.

Khadgar had been around more recently. Medivh had very quickly decided to ignore the presence of the other angel. That had seemed to be the trick for everyone to get past the initial awkwardness of the situation. Khadgar still liked to disappear without notice but he no longer did it as a way to escape whatever conversation he was having. Of him too, Lothar was proud.

Medivh, however, was starting to get bored with sitting in Lothar’s apartment for days on end. It was decided he would join Lothar and Taria on hunts, him having been an angel working in his favor. He almost died while facing his first banshee. Lothar almost died saving him. Khadgar appeared and saved them all, staying around just long enough to be introduced to Taria.

After that, Taria insisted that Lothar and Medivh both take a couple of days off. Lothar thought he was going crazy. He hated to sit around and do nothing, staring at the ceiling of his apartment. Medivh circled around him like a crow.

On the third day, they received a call from Taria.

“Come at once. We need to talk.”

Lothar exchanged one look with Medivh and they were out of the door, scrambling to put their boots on. Lothar did not own a car so they had to walk. Half an hour later and they were pushing the doorbell outside the large Victorian house. The Lothars’ house had been in the family for generations. It was only right Llane and Taria now lived in it. In all technicality, Anduin could have been living with them, but he valued his privacy and independence more than he did the family heirlooms. He did however recognize the huge asset the house was, having been constructed by and for hunters.

Llane met them at the door. He hugged both of them.

“It’s good to see you, old friend,” he told Lothar.

The other man nodded. “Where is my sister?” he asked worriedly.

“Relax,” Llane said, rolling his eyes, “she’s not in any danger. I’m not so sure she’s okay though, seeing as she’s been held up in the library for three whole days. She’s not speaking to me but she’s at least been eating the food I’ve made her.”

Lothar frowned, pushing past Llane and towards the library. It was a giant room at the center of the house with no windows. Taria was sitting at one of the tables, surrounded by huge piles of books. She was currently engrossed in a tiny notebook Lothar had never seen before. That struck him as odd because his father had made them read every single book this library held as part of their basic education.

“Taria,” he tried to get her attention.

She shushed him urgently. She didn’t look up.

Lothar shrugged in answer to Medivh’s quizzically raised eyebrow. He reached over and read the title of the first book. _An extensive and complete glossary of every known demon, 1818_. Lothar scoffed, remembering how inaccurate the information now seemed. He had been horrified to discover that was the extent of the knowledge of that time and wondered how any hunter could have survived to pass on their skills to future generations. 

Medivh himself had picked up another book and now looked as engrossed in it as Taria seemed to be in hers. Lothar sat down, figuring it would probably be long before his sister deigned to explain why she had called him over.

Medivh was the first to look up from his book, eyebrows knitted together.

“This author was widely misinformed,” he said very seriously.

Lothar smirked. “Let me see this.”

Medivh handed him the volume and Lothar read: _Angels of the Lord: how to handle them_. The book dated back to the 1950s and had been written by a pseudo-prophet who claimed to hear the voice of angels in his sleep. It had later been proven his wall was infested with harmless imps. Lothar rolled his eyes and discarded the book to the side. He was about to tell Medivh that nobody took this seriously anymore but Taria stood up suddenly, crying out in victory.

“I’ve found it!”

She lifted her head, finally taking notice of their presence. 

“Taria,” he spoke up, ”what’s going on? Why did you call us here?”

She wordlessly handed him the tiny notebook she had seemed so fascinated by.

First glancing at the cover, Lothar’s face fell as he recognized his mother’s handwriting in the soft curls of the word _Journal_. However, this was the first time he ever saw this notebook. He glanced confusedly at Taria, who gestured for him to read.

_Today is maybe the last day I’m ever able to write here again._

“What is this?” Lothar asked Taria accusingly.

She sighed. “I’ve found it in the mailbox when we came back from that werewolf hunt. I have no idea who sent it. But read it, Anduin, please.”

“You don’t know who it’s from?” he remarked. “How are we to know if this is even legit. This could be a trap!”

“Just read it, for fuck’s sake!”

Lothar groaned and shifted his attention back to the journal.

_It’s been three days since Varian came home. He hasn’t spoken a word to me but I know what he has done. The children are with Archibald-he’ll know what to do. I can feel our days are coming to an end very soon. To Taria and Anduin... I’m sorry we weren’t here to see you grow up. To Archibald: thank you for everything you have done and will continue to do for us, for our family. And to this mother-fucker Sargeras… See you in Hell where you won’t be reigning anymore very soon. I’m going to make you pay for what you’ve done to my ancestors, trying to erase our bloodline. But the prophecy’s fulfilling itself at the moment I’m writing these words… knowing they’ll be my last. Medivh… God. Watch over him. Let him avenge us._

Unable to take it, Lothar barely made it to the end before swinging the notebook to the wall. It hit it and fell with a disappointing sound. Silence met his outburst and he raised tear-filled eyes towards Taria. Her own eyes shone with tears at seeing her brother so upset. But she knew what she had to do.

“I’ve found him,” she said, gesturing to the numerous books surrounding them. Then, she produced a sheet of paper on which her handwriting filled every blank space. “I know how to find him.”

Lothar stood up, pacing around the room.

“Why?” he finally asked.

Taria scoffed. “Were you really expecting me to go about this life without trying to get revenge for our parents?”

“We agreed!” he yelled.

In a corner, Medivh had picked up the notebook and was trying to make himself as small as possible so as to not interrupt this scene which only concerned the Lothars.

“How could you have possibly believed me to be sincere? How could you have been?” Taria cried out. “We’ve been making a living out of killing demons. Don’t tell me you just expected to go down without fighting the one that killed our parents.”

They stared at each other, the same fire burning in their eyes. They didn’t look anything alike, Taria having picked up more on their father’s side, the tan skin, the curly hair, while Anduin looked exactly like their mom. Archibald had repeated it enough that Anduin did not doubt it.

“Besides,” Taria added, “you’ve read it. This is your destiny.”

Lothar guffawed.

“My destiny?” he asked disbelievingly. “Taria, you must be kidding me.”

“She isn’t.”

Lothar jumped around at the sound of Medivh’s voice. He glared at his friend who was staring intently at the notebook in his hands.

“Oh, come on,” he sighed.

“Did you never wonder why you got to have a guardian angel?” Medivh asked him, raising a quizzical eyebrow. “I wasn’t always told everything, but when they ordered me to look after your life, they did tell me that you were meant for great things. Would’ve helped to know what kind of great things but can’t always expect the best from angels.”

“So you think my destiny is to kill Sargeras?” Lothar deadpanned. 

Medivh shrugged.

“Yes,” Taria said.

Lothar turned towards her again. “And how exactly do you intend on doing this?”

That seemed to catch her off-guard. Lothar couldn’t help a laugh from escaping him.

“You don’t know?” he accused her. “This is just perfect, then, let’s get ourselves killed by Sargeras, just end it right here and the world’ll be saved!”

“Anduin,” Taria tried to interrupt him.

“But, dear God, do you even hear yourself?” he said. “This demon is said to be the most powerful demon there is, he’s the literal King of Hell, if you somehow missed that information in all that research you did about him, without telling me. Our parents gave their lives trying to kill him.”

“You’re wrong,” Taria said.

“Am I?”

“Our parents never tried to kill him.”

Anduin gaped at her.

“I’m sorry, Anduin. Archibald told me this years ago, right before he died. Mom and Dad had found out the incantation to summon Sargeras while on a hunt with Archie. Both Mom and Archie tried to talk him out of it, but Dad was too curious and decided to summon him anyway. He said he had to try and see if he could kill him, that he had to try to save humanity. To save us. To save _you_ because if Heaven thought you were in so much danger you needed a guardian angel, then obviously they were worried for you.”

“Don’t you blame our parents’ death on me,” Anduin warned her.

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Taria shook her head. “Dad summoned Sargeras and three days afterwards, they were attacked. Because that’s what Sargeras does. Every single account we have of someone having met him is this: they’re so shocked afterwards they can’t say a word about it and three days afterwards, they die.”

“I know!” Anduin said. “Then why should it be any different for us?”

Taria hesitated, glancing towards Medivh.

“Because,” he started, and Anduin turned towards him, his eyes big and sad, “you have an angel.”

Lothar frowned.

“And you have me,” Medivh added, looking conflicted. “Anduin. I don’t know what great things Heaven has destined you for. I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure. As angels, our orders are clear. If we have to make sure a human doesn’t die, that’s where it stops and we’re never supposed to overstep those orders. To influence a human’s life in any other way, like for example telling them how to kill that which they do not know how to kill,” Medivh said with a pointed look, “that would be grounds to be struck down and fall from grace.”

Both Anduin and Taria were looking at him, understanding dawning gradually on their features. Medivh continued with false mirth: “But as I’ve already done that. I know how to kill Sargeras. I will help you.”

Taria and Anduin gaped at him. Taria recovered first, turning towards Anduin. 

“So, what do you say, brother?”

Anduin looked between the two of them, at a loss.

“If we’re to do this,” he started and immediately added: “and I do say ‘if’! But if we do this, how do we summon Sargeras?”

Taria skipped in the air, trying to hold in her excitement. She dived into the pile of books and various papers on the table, emerging triumphantly holding a parchment.

“Here is the list of ingredients we’re going to need. It’s a lot, and pretty hard to find, but I know us. I know we can do it,” she said with a huge grin.

Her eye shone with the prospect of revenge. Anduin couldn’t help the fond smile which stretched his lips.

“Let me see this.”

His eyes bulged out at seeing the list. “Well,” he said, “better get started right now.”

******

They were almost done with the list. Their quest had brought them to the far corners of the country and beyond to meet - and kill - many creatures and people. When he pushed the door to his apartment that night, Anduin was spent. He had the place for himself tonight, since Medivh had gotten badly hurt and was currently taken care of by Llane while Taria slept the last few days off. Anduin himself had been ordered to get some sleep. Llane wouldn’t accept him into the house before another twelve hours anyway.

Anduin very much intended to go straight from the door to the couch, not even bothering to unfold the sofabed. He stopped short, however, when he saw Khadgar standing by the window.

“Why do you always stare out the window? I’ve gotta be honest, it’s creeping me out,” Lothar sighed.

Khadgar swiveled around, eyes glowing blue. Lothar was slammed into the wall and unable to move before he even registered the eye color.

“When were you going to tell me?” Khadgar seethed.

Lothar grunted, trying to break free from Khadgar’s power which was keeping him against the wall.

“Tell you what?” he asked, confused.

Khadgar roared and, out of frustration, let Lothar go. The human hit the ground knees first, moaning. Khadgar started pacing in front of him, shots of electric blue light coming out of his hands and back. Lothar stared, equal part fascinated and terrified. He only remembered one time Medivh had shown to be similarly distraught.

“You’re going after Sargeras?” Khadgar exploded.

Blue sparks flew towards the ceiling, illuminating the room for a few seconds. Lothar gaped.

“How,” Lothar swallowed uncomfortably. He stood up before trying again: “How did you find out?”

A burst of sparks left Khadgar’s eyes as he tried his hardest to reign himself in. Lothar took an instinctive step back. Surely the angel wouldn’t kill him since it was his job to make sure he made it out alive… But that didn’t mean he couldn’t hurt him very, very badly.

“I am your Guardian angel, Lothar,” Khadgar gritted out. “I can see and hear you at all times.”

A second passed.

“You can?” Lothar asked, dumbfounded.

“Yes, I can, you dumbass!”

Lothar narrowly avoided the cushion swung at him. Khadgar resumed his pacing.

“That’s the sort of things I’m supposed to know! I can’t keep learning about you risking your lives days after it’s been decided!”

“I thought you could hear me at all times-”

“That’s not the point!” Khadgar shut him up. “You’re always calling me when you’re in near death situations.”

Lothar’s eyebrows knitted together. “Do you want me to call you for tea time or…?”

“You could call me before you’re dying, you idiot!” Khadgar yelled.

Angry beating against their wall had them both start. With a guilty “Sorry!” Khadgar snapped his fingers. The beating immediately stopped.

“What did you do to them?” Lothar asked, worried.

“I’ve sound-proofed this room. That way I can yell at you all I want.”

Lothar’s eyes widened. 

“Listen, Khadgar-”

“No you listen, this time. Because so far I’ve done everything you’ve ever asked, and what did I get in return? Some unnecessary thanks?”

“Do you want me to pay you?”

“This is no time for jokes!” Khadgar bellowed. “Do you even understand what it is you’re doing?” he asked, suddenly quieter. He no longer was overcome by blue light. Instead, he looked more human now than he had ever in Lothar’s presence.

"Are you worried?" Lothar teased. He relented as Khadgar glared at him with a warning clear in his eye.

Khadgar sighed.

“Sargeras, he’s… He’s not any demon. And you can’t just go after him like that.”

“I know,” Lothar said. “We know, as a matter of fact. And that’s why we’re not going after him alone.”

Khadgar looked at him with confusion written all over his features.

“Because I’ve got you.”

Khadgar giggled. Lothar was gobsmacked. Khagdar giggled again, although it sounded even more croaky than the first time.

“You’re not serious.”

Lothar allowed a smirk to stretch his lips. “I’m going to do it. Your job is to protect me. You don’t really have a choice.”

Khadgar sighed. He suddenly fell down onto the armchair. Carefully, Lothar came closer and finally sat down on the sofa.

“My powers have limits. Even an angel can’t defeat a demon. Especially not one as powerful as Sargeras. The only thing that can kill a demon is…” He trailed off.

“A blade soaked in angel blood,” Lothar finished.

Khadgar’s head snapped up.

“How do you know that?” Lothar didn’t even have to answer him before understanding dawned on him. “Medivh,” he seethed.

Khadgar was up and pacing in a second. Lothar watched him go back and forth, discouraged.

“He just keeps fucking up, doesn’t he,” Khadgar was raging.

“He’s helping me!” Lothar decided to defend his friend.

“Why?”

“Because... he believes it’s my destiny,” Lothar mumbled.

“What?” Khadgar stopped short. “Can you say that again?”

Lothar sighed. “He thinks it’s my destiny to kill Sargeras.”

A disbelieving laugh left Khadgar’s mouth. “Does he now.”

Lothar raised a tired look towards the angel. Khadgar himself looked exhausted. Almost as a reflex, he went to the window, parted the curtains and glanced outside.

“What else did he tell you?” Khadgar asked.

“That you would help. That you had to.”

“Of course,” Khadgar seethed. His anger seemed to have drastically died down since the beginning of this conversation, but Lothar didn’t doubt it could get rekindled by a single wrong word on his part. “And did he also tell you,” Khadgar continued, “that angels do not bleed?”

Lothar gaped at him. Long minutes passed during which Khadgar stared down at Lothar, gaze hard and jaw tight. Lothar’s mind had emptied, unable to process the news.

“Then how do you…?” he managed to get out eventually.

“The only way to get an angel to bleed is by making sure first that that angel’s simply not an angel anymore.”

Lothar frowned. He raised an anguished gaze towards Khadgar. “Medivh,” he understood.

Khadgar nodded slowly. “He’s mortal,” he reminded Lothar, although he did not need any reminding.

It was Lothar’s turn to stand up and start pacing. Khadgar watched him, eyes never leaving his moving figure.

“Give up, Lothar,” he told him finally.

A spike of anger went through him. “Who are you to tell me what to do?” he spat.

Khadgar bristled. It reminded Lothar of the very first time he had dared raise his voice against the angel. Even today, Lothar felt shame creeping up on him. Not for the first time, he wondered how he would pay for his sins.

“Look, Khadgar-” he started saying.

“No, it’s fine,” he got interrupted. Khadgar was looking down at his feet. “I won’t bother you any longer. Good luck on your quest,” he said with contempt.

Lothar watched as the angel walked past him and towards the door. He opened it and slammed it behind him. However, there was no sound. Lothar was left feeling strangely empty. He suspected it had not got much to do with the curious silence of the door.

*******

They had all the ingredients they needed. The last on their list had been the still beating heart of a witch. Capturing the witch had not been easy and Lothar had received a pretty bad blow to the head. It was only a few hours afterwards, when they were driving back to the Lothars’ mansion, that Taria pointed out he was bleeding.

“You should ask Khadgar to take a look at it,” Medivh said offhandedly.

Lothar’s sullen silence had his two companions turn concerned faces towards him. He stubbornly ignored them.

After having spent a few days in their company, Medivh had decided he liked living with Taria and Llane much better. It was a better arrangement for everyone, anyway, since the couple lived in a huge mansion with loads of empty rooms while Lothar struggled to pay for his one-room flat in a lousy building. Lothar didn’t mind it, of course, but Medivh, after having tried the luxury of a real bath and a real bed, had deemed the mansion worthier of his presence. He didn’t say it, but Lothar was glad to have his privacy back.

Taria, then, dropped him off in front of the emergency exit, advising him to clean the wound and rest as much as he could before they met up tomorrow morning. Lothar bid them both goodnight, and with that, they were gone.

After showering, Lothar grabbed some bread, peanut butter and a jar of jam which had been sitting on his counter for God knew how long. He proceeded to make a sandwich and was just about to eat it when a voice rose behind him, nearly making him drop the sandwich.

"I wouldn't eat that if I were you."

Lothar turned to glare at Khadgar. He resisted asking the angel where he had been for the last few days because it was none of his business and because of how contrite Khadgar actually seemed.

"Who are you, my mom?"

"No, I'm your guardian angel and I don't know how good it would look on my resume to have 'let the savior of humanity die eating expired food.'"

Lothar was silent, staring at the PB&J in his hands, slowly dripping jam on the kitchen floor.

"I'm not the savior of humanity," he finally muttered.

Khadgar scoffed. "Says he who has decided to hunt down the actual King of demons, Sargeras."

Lothar glared at him but the look he saw on Khadgar's face stopped any sassy reply from leaving his mouth.

"I'm sorry I stormed off," the angel said, looking more miserable than a servant of Heaven was probably allowed to.

And Lothar could not exactly justify to God how he made one of His angels look so damn sad.

"It's okay. Just don't do it again," he said, shoving half the sandwich in his mouth to hide how flustered he felt.

"It's not fine," Khadgar insisted.

Lothar began to regret putting this much at once in his mouth.

"It's my job to make sure you're safe," Khadgar went on, "and I shouldn't get angry at you and certainly not leave you on your own for as long as I did. I don't know what got into me."

Lothar swallowed incredulously and choked as the bite went the wrong way. He started coughing and wheezing under the concerned gaze of his guardian angel.

"Lothar--" Khadgar took a step forward.

"I'm fine," Lothar stopped him.

His coughing finally subsided and he could start breathing again. When he looked at him, Khadgar was sporting a sly grin.

“What?” Lothar said.

Without answering, Khadgar took a step closer. “Let me have a look at that,” he said, gesturing to Lothar’s head.

Lothar tried to shoo him away. “No, it’s fine, it’s nothing.”

Khadgar put two fingers to his forehead, eyes glowing blue for a few seconds. Immediately, the lightheadedness that Lothar was feeling disappeared.

“You’re not fine. You had a concussion. You could have died if that had went unchecked.” The grin came back to take its rightful place on Khadgar’s face. “You know, I don't know if I even need to save you from getting killed by demons. By the time they get to you, you'll have already died from food poisoning or choking, or hitting your head against hard surfaces.”

Lothar growled, walking away from Khadgar. "Out of all the angels available, they had to send you," he mockingly complained.

Laughing, Khadgar answered: "I think your conception of how Heaven works is widely misinformed."

"Is it really?" Lothar asked, grabbing a beer from the fridge and pushing past Khadgar out of the kitchen.

Khadgar followed. "Yes! Would you like us to talk about it some more?"

"I was being sarcastic!"

Khadgar's laugh made him realize he probably already knew that and was just messing with him.

"You know," Lothar sprawled on the sofa, "in most modern representation of angels, you're all totally clueless about the human range of emotions. Why couldn't you be like that?"

Khadgar leaned on his forearms on the back of the sofa, looking down at Lothar.

"Don't even try to tell me you'd have preferred me to be some emotionless machine-like being. I wouldn't believe you." He smiled. "Besides, you love my jokes."

"I wouldn't say I love them."

"Come on, I thought I'd have to resuscitate you after you almost died of asphyxiation the other day what with how hard you were laughing. You weren't breathing anymore!"

Lothar rolled his eyes. "Are all angels this over-dramatic or is it just you?"

Khadgar's eyes crinkled with amusement. "No, I'm afraid that's just me. Sucks to be you."

Lothar didn’t answer, instead staring at the angel leaning over him. Despite his initial reaction to having Medivh not be his angel anymore and being stuck with the stranger that was Khadgar, he had to admit he was growing strangely fond of him. The thought of Medivh brought a crease on Lothar’s forehead, however. Khadgar’s eyebrow knitted together as he felt Anduin’s disarray.

“How did Medivh fall?” Anduin asked quietly.

Khadgar’s features hardened immediately. Lothar could tell how difficult it was for Khadgar not to disappear right then and there. Knowing Lothar wouldn’t appreciate it, however, Khadgar stayed.

“He didn’t tell you?” he asked, avoiding Lothar’s gaze.

Lothar shook his head. Khadgar sighed.

“I don’t know if I should- I just don’t think-”

“Then what are reasons an angel falls?” Anduin asked genuinely.

Khadgar’s face was twisted with pain.

“It doesn’t happen this often, you know,” he answered. “In fact, it only happened twice as far as I know…”

Lothar frowned. “Who was the first?”

Khadgar suddenly straightened, disappearing from Anduin’s line of sight. Anduin sat up, panicked, but spotted Khadgar at the window, staring out towards the sky.

“It was Sargeras,” Anduin guessed.

Khadgar closed the curtains. Anduin really wondered what was up with that, since Khadgar must have done that near a hundred times in the short time Anduin had known him.

“Yes,” Khadgar said quietly. “But Sargeras was struck down by God himself and sent to Hell. Medivh was, he was…” Khadgar sighed. “Other angels decided to strike him down and send him to Earth, where he would be mortal.”

“Why?” Anduin asked again, more urgently this time.

“I don’t think I should tell you.” Khadgar’s eyes bore into Lothar until he yielded.

“Fine. I’ll just ask him, then,” he said, knowing fully well he would never dare to.

“Good.”

Silence fell between them. Anduin was staring at his feet, thoughts floating half-formed in his mind. He had a thousand questions to ask the angel and yet he didn’t ask any. When he raised his head, he saw Khadgar was gone. A great emptiness took up residence in his chest at the realization.

The apartment was quiet.

********

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Visual for Khadgar as an angel over there: https://khadgar-is-bae.tumblr.com/post/173544051033/angel-khadgar-illustration-for-the-fic-how-art  
> :)


	3. 9 through 13

In the morning, Lothar went to meet with Taria, Medivh and Llane. Khadgar had not reappeared despite Lothar calling him multiple times ever since he had woken up. The angel’s silence had him in a cranky mood when Llane opened the door for him. His friend greeted him with a tight smile. He was worried.

“Hey, Llane,” Lothar tried to sound cheery.

“Come on in,” Llane led him through the house, “they’re in the basement.”

“Already?” Lothar frowned.

Llane sighed. He opened the door to the basement and had Lothar go first. After only a few steps, Lothar turned around.

“You’re not coming,” he said matter-of-factly.

Llane shook his head slowly. Many, many years ago, Llane had been a hunter. After having been possessed by a demon and almost dying, he had sworn off hunting and never ever had joined Taria and Lothar again. Still, Lothar had thought…

“Okay,” Lothar caved.

Llane closed the door, plunging the staircase in darkness.

The basement was lit by a thousand candles. Still adjusting to the poor lightning, Lothar spotted Medivh lighting the last of the candles in a corner. He went to him.

“Where’s Taria?” he asked him without bothering to greet him.

Medivh pointed to the long corridor which led to the cells. Lothar thanked him with a nod and went straight to the cells.

Taria was standing in front of the one where they had put the witch. These cells, they knew, were used quite frequently by their ancestors, at a time where they wanted to study the creatures rather than simply kill them. Neither Lothar nor Taria had ever felt like doing the same and so the cells had not been used in a very long time. The witch was still under the effect of the paralyzing potion they had finally managed to make her drink yesterday. Taria simply stood before her, staring.

She heard Lothar approaching.

“Hey,” she said quietly.

She reached over to him to check his head. Seeing that it was healed, a contented smirk ghosted over her lips.

“So what happened between him and you?” she asked.

Lothar rolled his eyes. “It’s an angel thing. You wouldn’t understand,” he said sarcastically.

It was her turn to roll her eyes. “Of course.” She then turned her attention back to the witch.

Lothar could feel the conflict in her sister’s heart. The witch was extremely young, a couple hundred years at most. They had always known of her existence, their great-great-grandfather having assisted to her being born. Unofficially, she had always been under the surveillance, and protection, of the Lothar family. What Taria and Lothar intended to do now was an insult to their bloodline. The witch had never hurt anybody, quite the contrary. She had made a living selling potions to believers and dodging the taunts of sceptics.

Lothar put a hand on Taria’s shoulder, squeezing slightly.

“What do we do?” he asked quietly.

A small smile graced Taria’s features. She remembered all the times she had to hear that same question from their caretaker, Archie. He had taught them all that there was to be known to be an efficient hunter, after their parents died. Taria had always been keener on the whole hunting business than Lothar had been, always fighting and rebelling against Archie’s teachings, but Taria had also had periods where it all seemed so pointless.

“What we have to do,” she answered. She had always hated how resigned that saying sounded, yet today, she guessed she really understood its meaning.

Leaving the witch to her paralyzed state, they went back to the main room where Medivh was waiting for them.

“Ready?” Taria asked him.

He nodded curtly. He stood with his whole body tensed, a testimony of the worry he felt but did his damnedest not to show. Lothar tried to ignore the nagging feeling at the back of his head.

They laid Medivh on the table at the center of the room. They had traced a pentagram on the ground with chalk, as per Medivh’s instructions. Lothar had called yesterday to tell Medivh exactly what he thought about him not informing them immediately he intended on giving them his own blood, and how stupid that sounded, and how he refused to risk his life to go kill Sargeras. Medivh had listened until Lothar quieted down, and then said: “Anything else?” When Lothar had stayed silent, Medivh had said: “Good. See you tomorrow.” 

Lothar had stayed stock still for long minutes, the receiver in his hand. 

They had agreed Taria was to do it. Lothar sat outside the circle, piece of paper in hand. Medivh had written the spell in Enochian. Knowing he didn’t speak it, he had written a phonetic transcription right under it and had him repeat the sentences a dozen times before he deemed it satisfying.

Taria nodded towards him, blade in hand. Lothar took a deep breath.

As soon as he spoke the first words, a huge breeze rose, almost extinguishing the candles. Lothar and Taria tensed up. Medivh grunted.

“Keep going, Lothar, dammit.”

Startled, Lothar kept on reading. With each word, he could feel the pressure rise in the room and Medivh seemed to be in more and more pain. The one time Lothar faltered, worried for his friend, Medivh hollered his name. They were in it for good, now. There was no turning back.

The sigil began glowing at the last sentence. Medivh suddenly opened his eyes at the same time his chest seemed to be overcome by powerful spasms. His eyes were glowing of the brightest blue Lothar had ever seen. Despite being mortal, Medivh was far from being human.

Lothar finished the spell and yelled: “Now, Taria!”

She did not hesitate. She plunged the knife in Medivh’s chest and removed it at once. Instead of the fountain of blood they had been expecting, red blood began floating in the air. Taria dropped the knife as if it had burnt her. The tendrils of blood rose and rose towards the knife which, instead of falling to the floor, was kept in the air by an invisible hand. Taria and Lothar stared fascinated as the blood surrounded the blade, seeming to soak into it, turning the silver blade into a bright red. 

All too soon, it was over. The knife clattered to the ground, keeping its red color. The pressure that had built up in the room disappeared at once and the pentagram lost its glow. Medivh yelled.

Unable to bear the pain, he rolled unto his side and fell to the ground. Taria was at his side in an instant. She checked his chest, but it was pristine, as if she had never plunged a knife in it. She realized his pain had nothing to do with the physical. She was at a loss what to do.

Meanwhile, Lothar had stepped into the circle as soon as he had felt the operation was over. He was about to touch the blade when Khadgar appeared.

With one swift movement of his hand, he sent the weapon away from Lothar’s grasp.

“Hey!” Lothar protested.

Khadgar walked towards him, power coming out of him in waves, terrifying Lothar. Lothar scrambled to his feet and started walking backwards.

“Lothar!” Khadgar hollered.

Thunder shook the base of the house, startling them all.

“Shit,” Khadgar swore. He turned towards Taria and Medivh, a shadow passing over his features. Then, he swiveled to face Lothar, determination written all over his face. “We have to go.”

“No!” Lothar refused.

“He’s coming, Lothar, don’t you feel it?”

“Sargeras,” Taria whispered, a look of utter terror on her face. She was clutching onto Medivh’s whimpering body. 

“But we have the blade!” Lothar said. “We can kill Him right now!”

Khadgar glanced towards the red knife, discarded to the side. “You can’t touch it,” he informed Lothar, “it could kill you.”

“What?” Lothar choked. “Then what good is it?”

Anger was starting to boil in him, threatening to burst. Khadgar took one careful step towards him again. Thunder rumbled again, closer and closer.

“There’s another spell,” Medivh managed to grunt, his voice weak. Taria shushed him immediately.

There was a flash and suddenly He was here. The four of them stilled, fear twisting their insides.

“Well, well, well,” He spoke, and His voice was like the thunder itself, “what do we have here?”

His eyes roamed the room, stopping on each four of them. Khadgar placed himself between Sargeras and Lothar, eyes glowing in warning.

“Khadgar,” He cooed. “How good to see you here.”

With a twitch of His finger, He sent the angel flying into the wall. Lothar yelled. With another twitch, Sargeras stole his voice. The sudden silence froze everyone’s blood.

Taria was hurriedly trying to pull Medivh as far away as possible from Sargeras. He looked human and yet something about Him felt incredibly off. His power was the strongest they had ever witnessed.

He took one step towards her and Medivh and she felt her muscles be immobilized. She whimpered. A fire burnt behind His irises, as if Hell lived in His pupils.

“My children inform me you’re trying to kill me,” He said. Tears began falling down Taria’s cheeks. “Pathetic.”

He was only a step away from her. He had her release Medivh from her grasp, and his unconscious body rolled onto the floor. Sargeras leaned over him, gazing at him.

“What a perfect gift,” He whispered. “I’ll take it.”

His eyes began glowing but instead of the angels’ blue, they were green. Medivh’s body raised in the air, his own eyes flying open and glowing the same sickly green.

At once, Lothar and Taria were released from Sargeras’s control.

“No!” Taria yelled at she saw Lothar flinging himself across the room.

His hands closed around the blood soaked blade. A horrific howl escaped his throat. Remembering how the same blade had felt unbearably scorching, Taria’s breath caught in her throat. Sargeras swiveled around and sighed at the sight.

“Foolish human,” He said as the green receded from His eyes.

Taria rushed to Medivh’s side but he was surrounded by an impenetrable barrier. Taria punched it out of frustration, muffling her cry of pain as she broke her finger.

Lothar’s body felt like a blazing fire. It felt like molten lava was running through his veins and yet he could not drop the blade. It was firmly stuck in his hands. Faintly, through the red fire that had overtook his visions, Lothar saw Sargeras walking towards him, but He was no longer human, but a demon. Horns protruded from His forehead, horrible tentacles grew from His chin and huge black wings stretched behind His back.

Light from a thousand suns replaced the terrifying sight of Sargeras approaching ever so closer. Lothar gasped as he recognized Khadgar’s form through the blinding light, like the time he had saved him from the werewolf. Khadgar was floating in the air between him and Sargeras.

“You won’t take him,” Khadgar said, his voice like steel.

Sargeras groaned.

“Fine. But I’m taking the angel.”

Green invaded the space, fighting against Khadgar’s own blindingly blue light. Khadgar turned around and covered Lothar with his body as everything exploded behind him.

“Close your eyes!” Khadgar ordered.

Lothar did as he was told, clenching his eyelids tightly. Despite it, he felt the unbearable light scorching his eyes. The house trembled under the sheer power which was released. When things settled eventually, an eerie silence reigned.

Lothar opened his eyes carefully. The light had imprinted a figure on his eyelids, of a human figure with huge wings behind his back. 

“Khadgar,” he whispered.

The angel was still wrapped around him, his wings no longer emitting any light but still visible to the human eye. They were huge, heavy wings like those of a bird, with long glistening brown feathers. Fascinated, Lothar extended a hand to brush over them. They were the softest thing he had ever touched. Khadgar fell backwards.

Stifling a yell, Lothar surged forward, kneeling besides Khadgar. His wings were uncomfortably bent against the wall what with how large they really were. Khadgar himself was unconscious. Lothar leaned over him, panicking.

“Anduin…”

His head snapped upwards. Taria was huddled in a corner, eyes full of the terrifying scene they had just lived. Abandoning the angel, Lothar rushed to her side. He pulled her into his arms, noticing how hard she was shaking. Taria started in his arms.

“Anduin, the blade!”

He stared at her confusedly. “What about it?”

“Where is it? What happened? Are you alright?”

She stared around the room, unable to spot it

“I feel fine,” Lothar said, eyes glinting mischievously. 

Taria gazed accusingly at him. “Khadgar said not to touch it!” she scolded him.

“I’m alive, am I not?” he smirked. Then, he raised his hand. Taria’s eyes widened as she took notice of the blade he held.

“How did you do that?” she said, amazed.

He laughed, making the weapon disappear. “I don’t know. It’s like an instinct.”

There was a sudden bang, making them both start, and light flooded in. Hurried footsteps hurtled down the stairs.

Llane emerged into the basement, looking haggard.

“Oh my God!” he exclaimed when he saw Khadgar unconscious on the floor. Carefully, he stepped over the stretched out wing between him and Taria and Lothar huddled in the corner. “What the Hell happened? I’ve been trying to open this door for half an hour!”

When he saw the haunted look on both his companions’ eyes, understanding dawned on him.

“He was here,” he said darkly.

Lothar nodded slowly. “Where is Medivh?” he realized suddenly.

Taria’s eyes filled with tears. “I don't know..." she whispered. "I couldn't see anything..."

Lothar shushed her, trying to not make here relive the scene. She burst out sobbing. Llane grabbed her and lifted her up. He told Lothar he would take care of her. They both disappeared up the staircase.

Left alone, Lothar sat there for a long time. Dragging his eyes over the destroyed room, Lothar wept.

*********

Khadgar awoke three days later. He awoke with a start and a cry, and Lothar was at his side in an instant. 

“Taria!” he yelled.

He grabbed both Khadgar’s arms and tried his best to keep him from moving too much. His breath was coming out ragged and his eyes were rolling in their orbit. Taria arrived, Llane right behind her. The three of them managed to calm Khadgar down. His eyes latched onto Lothar and he breathed out, his panic spiking up occasionally.

“Sargeras rules in Heaven.”

With these words, he fell back into a restless sleep. Lothar raised a distressed face towards Taria. She looked as appalled as he felt. She turned around and left the room. She was back moments later with a wet cloth and two cup of teas. Lothar accepted the cloth with a whispered thanks. He wiped the angel’s forehead slowly, wishing he could fall back into a deeper sleep. His lips quivered and his limbs trembled every few seconds. Taria sat on a stool next to the bed, nursing her cup of tea.

“Do you think what he said is the truth? Or was it just a fever dream?” she asked him.

Lothar shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll just have to ask him when he wakes up fully.”

That happened during the night. Lothar, unable to leave his side, had dozed off on the armchair which, along with the bed and the stool, was the only furniture in the room. The rest of the room was filled by the width of the angel’s wings, which did not seem to want to disappear. They had struggled to drag Khadgar up the stairs of the basement and to one of the empty rooms on the first floor, and then to fit his wings in the closed space. Now, they laid on the ground, the tip crooked against the walls, having lost none of their majesty.

Lothar opened his eyes when he felt some movement. He saw Khadgar standing by the window, the moonlight illuminating his face.

“Khadgar,” Lothar worried, standing up also and hurrying to his side. “You shouldn’t be up.”

“My siblings are in great pain,” Khadgar whispered. 

His face was twisted with anguish. Lothar led him to sit on the bed. Pulling the stool closer, Lothar sat in front of him, clasping his hands in his.

“You were saying the truth,” Anduin figured out. “Sargeras did take control of Heaven.”

“Yes,” Khadgar said, finally dragging his eyes from the window towards Lothar. “I should have told you this much sooner. Ever since I have been assigned to you, I’ve felt strange energies around you. I refused to believe it, but I now know they were from angels loyal to Sargeras, spying on you.”

“That’s how He knew what we were doing…” Lothar closed his eyes tightly, the events from three days ago coming back to him.

Khadgar nodded slowly. The next few minutes were spent in silence, the both of them reflecting on the recent revelations.

“Thank you,” Lothar eventually said.

Khadgar looked at him, confused.

“For saving me,” Lothar added.

The angel smiled, nodding to indicate he accepted his thanks. Lothar couldn't help his eyes from shifting to Khadgar's wings, which had draped behind him on the bed like a train.

“Is it normal that…?” Lothar asked.

“I don’t know,” Khadgar answered, “they’ve never done this before.” He pondered on it for a second before saying: “I think I’m too weak to retract them.”

Lothar kept observing the powerful appendages. With every movement of Khadgar's torso, the wings twisted like ripples were going through them. Unable to resist, he reached forward to touch them. Khadgar’s entire body twitched at the touch. Lothar immediately retracted his hand, guilty. Khadgar looked as stunned as he was. When the eye contact became too much to bear, Lothar cleared his throat loudly.

“By the way, how are you feeling?”

“Like Hell,” Khadgar answered with a tiny smile.

His smile got wider as Lothar got past his initial shock response. Soon they were both laughing out loud, breaths catching in their throat. The noise they were making alerted Taria and Llane, who burst into the room only to be met by the sight of them both roaring with laughter. Dumbstruck, they could do nothing but stare. 

When Lothar and Khadgar finally sobered up, they led Khadgar out of the room and towards the kitchen. Having been woken up in the middle of the night, the three humans were dying for some tea and Lothar, not having eaten much in the last few days, started heating up some food. The angel, of course, refused everything they offered him.

“How will you get your energy back?” Llane asked more out of curiosity than worry.

“I’m afraid the only way is to go back to Heaven,” Khadgar answered.

A clatter made them both start. Lothar had dropped the pan he had been holding and now clutched the counter tightly.

“No way,” he said in a low voice. 

Khadgar tried to speak but Lothar interrupted him.

“You’re not going back to Heaven. I won’t let you.”

Lothar stormed out of the room, leaving Taria, Llane and Khadgar to stare after him, taken aback. Khadgar turned towards the two others, looking for advice as to what to do. When he realized the two humans were at as much of a loss as he was, he decided to take matters in his own hands.

He went after Lothar. He found him in the library, angrily shelving the numerous books that had been left scattered on the tables. Khadgar observed him silently for a while. Lothar had always been an impetuous man, even going up against an angel, not caring for consequences to himself if it meant the people he loved were safe. He had tried challenging the actual King of Hell, most powerful demon and fallen angel Sargeras. Khadgar could only admire this trait of Lothar’s personality. But this ardour also meant he was the most stubborn man Khadgar had ever had the chance of meeting.

“Lothar,” he informed him of his presence.

The man did not stop what he was doing, instead shelving with even more unnecessary strength than before and ignoring Khadgar. The angel sighed.

“Lothar, come on,” he tried again. “Look at me.”

Lothar stilled, his hand on the spine of a book he had just put back. He had his back to Khadgar and his shoulders were tensed. Khadgar took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry about Medivh,” he decided on saying.

Lothar’s shoulders shook violently. It took Khadgar a few seconds to realize he was crying. Not knowing what to do, Khadgar stood silently by his side, his wings draped across the floor, as the sobs racked through him. Exhaustion finally catching up to him, Lothar fell down onto the nearest chair. His crying had subsided. Khadgar stood awkwardly until Lothar raised his eyes full of sorrow towards him. Khadgar felt the sadness that was plaguing the human and realized just how much he had cared for Medivh.

“You must have really loved him,” Khadgar said quietly.

Lothar gave a sad chuckle. “That surprises you?” he asked bitterly.

“Angels do not know love,” Khadgar assured.

Lothar gazed at him, wistful.

“Don’t they?”

Khadgar avoided his gaze.

“Medivh fell in love,” Lothar suddenly said. “I figured it out the other day. He was talking, and suddenly I remembered… How smitten he had seemed... with this woman. A huntress we’ve had the chance to work with a few times.”

Khadgar was silent.

“I haven’t seen her in a while, but I… It’s the only thing that makes sense, when I think about it. They don’t allow you to fall in love, especially not with a witch, do they?”

Lothar huffed. 

“He died because he was in love,” he whispered.

“Yes,” Khadgar agreed.

“I should call her,” Lothar decided.

“You do that,” Khadgar said in a neutral voice.

Lothar watched him. His face was carefully guarded, eyes staring just a little bit to the left of Lothar’s face. When he stood up, the angel did not react. Lothar stepped closer. He reached forward, his hand lending on Khadgar’s shoulder. He raised his head, defiant. Lothar shifted his hand so that it rested on Khadgar’s neck, where he could feel the rapid beating of his heart. They stared at each other for long minutes.

Eventually, Khadgar dropped his gaze and Lothar scoffed. He patted the angel on the head.

“Come on,” he told him, “we’ve got a demon to kill.”

Khadgar raised an eyebrow. “And how exactly do you intend to do that?”

“With this,” Lothar stated, triumphant, as he raised his arm, the blood-soaked blade in hand.

Khadgar’s eyes widened. He took a step closer, fascinated, and ran his finger down the length of the blade. He pricked himself and a vermilion drop appeared, slowly dripping down his finger and onto his palm. He stared gobsmacked.

“A weapon able to make an angel bleed…” he marvelled.

“And to kill a demon,” Lothar reminded him.

Khadgar smiled brightly at him and Lothar was blinded.

**********

“Yes. Yes, we’ll be careful. Yes, Llane… please. Ok. See you.”

Taria closed the door slowly. She rested her head against it, sighing. Then, she went down the stairs to the basement.

“Ok, let’s go,” she told the two men waiting for her.

Well, one man and an angel.

Khadgar nodded. The humans had impressed him, as they had often done in the weeks he had had the chance of knowing them. First, they had found a solution for his wings which were extremely sensible on the mortal plane. To prevent him from knocking every single thing on the counters again, Llane had given him a harness so the wings stayed safely behind his back. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing but it was better than having to drag the useless appendages around. Khadgar hated being physical. 

When he had woken up and taken sight of the two massive wings weighing him down, Khadgar had known he wouldn't be able to return to Heaven through the traditional means. Up until now, he had only manifested on Earth as a spiritual presence and his wings were always able to fly him back. But his physical form was way too heavy to perform such a feat.

His fight against Sargeras had thoroughly drained Khadgar of his power. Throughout the few days Khadgar had spent in this state, he had developed a brand new understanding of the punishment Medivh had been given. But contrary to Medivh, Khadgar was still an angel, if the crying voices of his siblings in his head were anything to go by.

He had only one way to return to Heaven now. But he would not be going alone.

“You are about to become the first two living beings to enter Heaven,” he told Taria and Lothar.

The two nodded, finishing to attach all their weapons in improbable places of their body. Khadgar observed them for a minute, wondering why they felt the need to equip themselves so when the only weapon which was really going to be efficient could be summoned at wish by Lothar.

“Since none have done it before you, I can’t predict what will happen,” he added at their attention. “You must be ready for anything.”

The humans indicated they understood. They were growing impatient. But Khadgar wanted to tell them one last thing before activating the travel sequence.

“However, because you are still mortal, you will still be able to die.”

Both Taria and Lothar set their determined gaze on them, burning with a fury Khadgar had thought could only be felt by gods. He smirked. They were ready.

As he started the Enochian spell, the sigils the three of them had reproduced in blood all around the room started glowing. The red gave in to the bright blue. The walls trembled. But, contrary to when Sargeras had stood in the same room, neither Taria nor Lothar felt any fear. Instead, a warm and safe feeling filled them.

The door to Heaven opened, like a vortex in the middle of the room. Leaning over it, Lothar marvelled at the sight. It was like gazing at a universe from the outside. It seemed bottomless.

Khadgar finished the incantation.

“Ready?” he asked them, although he knew nothing would stop them from jumping now.

“Ready,” they still confirmed.

Together, they jumped.

Instead of falling, however, they were violently sucked upwards. The two humans screamed as they saw the ceiling approaching at breaking speed. They appeared in the middle of a luxurious field, a slight breeze brushing their hair. Dumbstruck, Taria and Lothar stood up, staring at Heaven. In the distance, a storm raged.

Khadgar frowned.

“Let’s go.”

He didn’t stop to check on his companions. His wings were twitching madly on his back, struggling to break free of the harness. He ignored them despite the pain they caused him. Now was not the time. His siblings needed him.

The two humans ran after him, worrying at the distance which seemed to be separating them from the storm. As they ran, they didn’t notice how their steps seemed to cross more and more distance. They reached the edge of the forest much quicker than they had initially predicted.

“Come on,” Khadgar pressed on, “it’s this way.”

There didn’t seem to be any way through the forest but they trusted him. At the edge of the forest, a terrifying sight awaited them.

Angels were forced to kneel down, scattered across the large grassy area surrounded by trees, which created the main plaza. At its centre was a huge temple. The storm raged above it, and each strike of thunder made another brick of the building fall down to the ground.

Khadgar skidded to a stop, Taria and Lothar behind him. Sargeras floated high above the ground, huge wings like those of a dragon spread out behind Him, His eyes burning of a green fire. But despite all this, His features were unmistakable.

“Medivh!” Lothar gasped.

He tried taking a step forward but was stopped by Khadgar.

“Sargeras is feeding on his life force to have enough power to subdue the angels. Once He’s done, He’ll cast Medivh aside like a used shirt. If Medivh is still alive in there, he won’t survive that.”

Lothar tried to tamper the swell of fury which threatened to overcome him.

Suddenly, a flash of blue light followed by an explosion attracted their gaze. A howl resonated in the otherwise silent area. An angel started rising above the ground, held tightly by three tentacles of green light. 

“Jaina!” Khadgar cried out.

“Let’s go!” Lothar decided.

The three of them began sprinting across the field, narrowly avoiding the kneeling angels. They found they were being held in this position, hands clasped together in front of them and head bowed, by the same light tentacles as Jaina. If they tried to resist, the light burnt their skin.

Sargeras felt them approaching. With a furious yell, He slammed Jaina against the ground and forced her into the same position as the others. Finally, all the angels had been subdued. All, but one.

Sargeras casually landed on the ground in front of the three running trespassers.

“Well, well, well,” He cooed. “Look who we have here.”

Green lights appeared around Khadgar, who stifled a cry. Both Lothar and Taria rushed to help him but found they were held all the same. However, the tentacles did not hurt them. 

Khadgar started rising above the ground, his features distorted by pain. Sargeras howled with laughter.

“Congratulations on making it, Khadgar. You’d have been missed.”

Slowly, He started lowering Khadgar to the ground, bringing his limbs together to make him kneel. Lothar realized he wasn’t going slowly on purpose. Khadgar was resisting with all his might. Under the pressure, the harness broke and Khadgar's wings spread out at once, blue light running through the feathers like lightning. Khadgar's eyes flew open, burning with the same blue light, and he glared at Sargeras.

“None of your siblings have shown me this much resistance,” Sargeras complained mockingly, “please, Khadgar. Submit.”

Sargeras’s whole body started glowing then. As He focused His power on Khadgar, Lothar managed to break free from his bounds. Yelling, he rushed forward, seemingly weapon-less. Sargeras glanced at him, momentary worry writing itself on his features. 

Lothar plunged the summoned blood-soaked blade through His chest.

Stunned, Sargeras looked down at the blade, red blood spurting out of the wound. At once, Khadgar was released. He hit the ground with a hard thump. Taria, also freed, rushed to his side and helped him up. The places where the tentacles had held him were badly burnt, but already, the healing properties of this blessed place were operating.

Sargeras raised His head, eyes locking themselves onto Lothar’s.

“You…” He croaked.

At once, His features shifted to reveal Medivh underneath him. Lothar took a step back, horrified, as blood trickled down his friend’s jaw.

Laughter behind him made his blood freeze in his veins. Lothar, Khadgar and Taria turned around. In front of them, Sargeras, more deformed than they had ever seen Him, rose. 

“Pathetic,” He rumbled.

Balls of lightning began forming in his hands.

“Down!” Khadgar ordered.

The three of them launched themselves to the ground, the destructive sphere's exploding behind them.

“Enough!” a voice resounded.

Shocked, the three twisted their necks to see Medivh, spikes of pure light running across his naked chest. He grabbed the blade still stuck in his chest and wrenched it out, biting back a pained cry. The blade disappeared immediately. 

“You will not hurt my friends,” Medivh gritted out.

At once, lightning flew from him towards Sargeras. It was stopped by tendrils of green light. The two energies hit each other and pushed against the other, trying to overcome the other.

“Now, Lothar!”

Shocked out of his apathetic state, Lothar jumped to his feet. At the first opening, he rushed forward, blade already in hand. He expertly dodged the first green spheres Sargeras threw at him, but couldn’t escape the last one. Lothar raised the blood-soaked blade in front of him to parry. The blade absorbed the energy, the green disappearing into the bright red. 

With a victorious grin, Lothar approached Sargeras, still fighting off Medivh. Khadgar had joined his efforts to the melee, and both of them were concentrating all their energy on the demon.

Lothar posted himself right before Sargeras, glaring at him.

“This,” he said, raising his weapon, “is for my parents.”

He plunged the blade deep into Sargeras’s chest. The demon trembled. Then, He exploded.

The blast sent Lothar backwards. His back hit the ground and he cried out. Pain shooting up his spine, he rolled over. Helping himself with a hand against the ground, he managed to hoist himself up enough to cast a glance across the field. It was empty.

Panicked, he managed to get on his knees. 

“Taria!” He hollered. “Khadgar!”

His voice resonated around him. Only silence answered him.

“Oh my god,” he sobbed, “I’ve killed them.”

Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him. He swivelled around.

Right where Sargeras had stood, was a tiny child. She looked to be around eight years old, her hair flowing behind her back and pooling on the ground around her feet. It was a bright red, as were her eyes, which seemed to hold the world. Lothar was dumbstruck.

“Congratulations,” the girl told him. “The demon has been defeated.”

Lothar nodded numbly. Aware he was facing a being so superior to him, he kneeled down in front of her. She smiled at him.

“Can I go now?” she asked.

Confused, he said: “Do you need my permission?”

Her kind eyes wrinkled with mirth. She pointed a finger towards Lothar’s chest.

“You put me there.”

Amazed, Lothar finally understood who she was.

“Then, yeah,” he said. He suddenly realized his cheeks were drenched with tears. “You can go.”

The little girl’s face lit up and she skipped on the spot. She turned around and started hopping away.

“Wait!” Lothar called after her. She turned towards him, expectant.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Her smile was blinding. He watched her go, sobs racking through him without him even knowing why. With a flash of light, she was gone.

A hand rested on his shoulder.

“Anduin,” he heard.

Raising his tear-streaked face towards the voice, Lothar breath caught as he saw Khadgar's amazed face, staring at the spot where the goddess had disappeared. Khadgar then turned his star-filled gaze towards him.

“You did it,” he marvelled. “Anduin, you did it.”

Lothar passed out.

***********

Lothar opened his eyes. Everything was dark. For a moment, he wondered if he was dead. 

Light suddenly flooded the room before darkness came back. Someone had just entered.

A warm contentment filled Lothar’s bones. The person sat beside him.

“Khadgar,” Lothar whispered.

The angel started, almost falling backwards. Lothar heard him shuffle around until a soft glow emanated from his hand, barely illuminating the small space. The angel leaned over him.

“Lothar, you’re awake!” Khadgar said in a low voice. 

“Hey,” Lothar said. By the sound of his voice, he realized he was groggier than he had initially thought. “What… happened?”

Khadgar smiled softly. “You defeated Sargeras.”

A tear escaped Lothar’s eye and rolled down his face. Khadgar stared at it, worried.

“Good…” Lothar whispered. He could feel himself slipping back into sleep but he fought against his exhaustion. “What about Medivh?” He asked.

Khadgar’s face lit up. “He’s alive. Lothar, he’s alive.”

A disbelieving chuckle escaped Lothar. “And my sis…”

“Taria is fine. She’s back on Earth, she’s with Llane,” Khadgar informed him.

“I’m not…?” Lothar frowned.

Khadgar brushed his forehead, shushing him.

“Sleep…”

The next time Lothar opened his eyes, he knew immediately Khadgar was next to him. Head on his folded arms, he was asleep. Lothar’s eyes seemed to have accustomed to the darkness. He gazed curiously at the sleeping angel. He had often wondered if they needed sleep as humans did. As with many things, he had never dared ask him.

Dragging his gaze across the small room he was in, Anduin noted the wings which were carefully folded behind Khadgar’s back. In the near darkness, they glowed softly. If Lothar had found them beautiful back on Earth, here they were magnificent.

Lothar shifted. The movement alerted Khadgar, who awoke with a snort. Lothar chuckled. Khadgar glared for a second before a huge yawn overcame him. 

“How long have you been watching me?” Lothar teased.

“Six days,” Khadgar mumbled.

“Six?” Lothar choked. He shot upwards, trying to get up. His legs were tightly wounded in a blanket. “Get- it- off!”

“Lothar, please, relax!” Khadgar tried to calm him down.

Lothar managed to free himself and jumped to his feet.

He was naked.

His face reddening, he snatched the blanket and tied it around his hips. He caught Khadgar’s twinkling gaze and stuck his tongue at him.

Khadgar leaned forward and kissed him.

Lothar stood perfectly still, unable to breathe.

Eventually, the angel took a step back, worrying his lip and his eyes staring at the ground.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Don't,” Lothar said, coming back to his senses. He raised Khadgar's chin up with a finger and gaped as he saw tears shining bright in his eyes. “Hey, there, it’s okay. You caught me off guard, is all.”

Khadgar scoffed, obviously embarrassed. He was trying desperately to avoid Lothar’s gaze.

“Khadgar,” Lothar said, “look at me.”

Khadgar shivered as he obeyed.

“Why did you kiss me?”

“Seriously?” Khadgar deadpanned.

A sarcastic smile painted itself on Lothar’s face, indicating he was messing with Khadgar but still wouldn’t relent until he had answered his question.

“Why did you do it?” he repeated.

Khadgar huffed. “Idiot,” he muttered.

Instead of answering, he kissed him again. Lothar’s smile widened into the kiss. He grabbed Khadgar's face with both hands, deepening the kiss. Khadgar hummed with pleasure.

Suddenly, it hit Lothar that was probably the first time Khadgar ever kissed anyone.

The angel groaned.

“You think too much,” he said, hand tightening in Lothar’s hair. “And I’ve kissed people before!”

“Who?” Lothar wondered.

“Other angels!” Khadgar answered, a proud gleam in his eye.

“Wow.”

Khadgar hit him on the shoulder.

“You’re insufferable.”

“You love it.”

Khadgar stilled. He locked gaze with Lothar, whose smile fell at once.

“Yeah,” Khadgar said, “perhaps I do.”

“Khadgar-”

“Come,” he interrupted him, “I bet someone is going to be happy to see you.”

Khadgar opened the door and light flooded the room. Lothar shielded his eyes. When he finally grew accustomed to the sudden light, he realized Khadgar had not waited for him.

 _Shit,_ he thought.

He rushed outside but was forced to stop. Before him spread the vast fields, covered in grass and flowers. Turning on the spot, Lothar realized he had been in a small cabin. Similar such cabins had been built in a slightly curved line. He was on a hill, overlooking the plaza where the battle had took place. Angels, their wings of every colour, walked and flew about. 

Lothar was amazed.

In the corner of his eye, he saw a bright comet approaching at light speed. He didn't have time to duck. The comet hit him right in the chest. A loud laugh invaded his ears as strong arms encircled him. Caught off balance, they fell down and rolled down the hill.

“What- Medivh!” Lothar complained, as they finally stopped rolling.

His former guardian angel was laid out on top of him, laughter coming out of him in waves. He sat up, smile bright.

“Look, Lothar!” He exclaimed. “I’m alive!”

“I can see that,” Lothar said.

“Oh, Lothar, if you knew how happy I am to see you!”

Medivh hugged him again.

“I have a pretty good idea,” Lothar laughed.

Eventually, Medivh released him and they sat up. Lothar dragged his gaze all around him, marvelling at what he saw.

“It’s beautiful,” he remarked.

“The angels are indebted to you for having saved them,” Medivh informed him.

“And to you? You’ve played as much of a role, if not a greater one, in defeating Sargeras.”

Medivh was vibrating with excitement.

“Look,” he told him.

He stood up and two wide wings spread behind him. Having never seen them before, Lothar gaped. They were of the deepest black he had ever seen and they glowed beneath the sun.

“I’m an angel again,” Medivh explained.

“That’s awesome,” Lothar said genuinely. “But what about…?”

Medivh’s smile faltered as he realized Lothar had figured out what had happened to him for him to have fallen from Grace.

“I owe you the truth, old friend,” he said, defeated.

As Medivh started walking, Lothar followed him. Everywhere they went, they received the thanks and praise of angels. Lothar was floored.

“So you know it was Garona?” Medivh asked him. Lothar nodded positively. “I fell in love and hid it from everyone. We met in secret for months until I was summoned by the council. I thought that was it but they only issued a warning. Determined to heed it, I thought that was the end of that…”

As they talked, they had reached the edge of the forest surrounding the area. Medivh gestured for Lothar to follow him closely and they dived into the woods.

“Until I learned that she had been pregnant.”

Lothar gasped.

“I demanded to see the child but she refused. I realized she had used me to create this child of a mortal and an angel. It was my duty to report it to the council. I did so and they banished me to Earth.”

“What about the child?”

Medivh smiled. “Look.”

He parted the leaves in front of them, revealing a large clearing. A dozen winged babies were either flying around or playing on the ground. Two adult angels were looking after them. Medivh pointed to a small child, the only one not to have wings, who was alone. 

“It’s her,” Medivh told Lothar, wonder in his voice.

Lothar smiled at his friend.

“And Garona?” He couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“She was punished,” Medivh told him simply, face closing off.

Lothar decided not to push and that he would try to find out what had happened to her when he went back to Earth.

“I’m happy for you, Medivh.” Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. “Does that mean you’re my guardian angel again?”

Medivh laughed loudly, making birds fly out of the woods. The sound alerted the angels in the clearing, whose eyes threw daggers at them.

“No,” Medivh said, “you don’t need one anymore.”

Lothar's heart fell to his stomach.

“...what?”

Medivh steered him away from the clearing and back to the main plaza.

“You’ve defeated Sargeras. You’ve fulfilled your destiny. Heaven awaits you.”

Lothar stopped short.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Medivh stared at him with sadness.

“Lothar. You’re dead.”

Lothar's eyes widened. He took a step back, unable to process it.

He began running, diving back into the forest, ignoring Medivh calling him.

He found himself on the other side of the circle of trees, in the large wheat fields where he had first appeared with Taria and Khadgar.

Taria…

Did that mean he would never see her again? Full of sorrow, Lothar started sobbing.

Khadgar found him hours later, although time did not exist in Heaven. Lothar had stopped crying and was staring, unseeing, at the fields in front of him.

Khadgar sat beside him.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Lothar huffed. “For what?”

“For having lied to you, I guess.”

Lothar turned his head towards him, observing the angel’s soft profile and his brown eyes which could look so dangerous when he activated his power. A surge of affection filled him.

“You never lied to me.”

“I told you angels don’t fall in love,” Khadgar remarked.

Lothar chuckled. “But I didn’t believe you, did I?”

Khadgar turned surprised eyes towards him. Lothar smiled softly, trying to convey to him how much this did not matter.

“Medivh told me I was dead,” Lothar said.

Khadgar hung his head low. “Yeah.”

“I don’t want to be.”

“What will you do?” Khadgar asked.

“What can I do?”

“Point,” Khadgar conceded. 

They both stared off the distance, lost in thought.

“It’s not fair, though, is it?”

Lothar turned towards Khadgar once more.

“They allow Medivh to be an angel again but they won’t allow you to live?”

Khadgar stood up.

“Bullshit.”

Before Lothar could do anything, Khadgar had spread out his wings and flown away. He was back moments later, triumphant.

“The council will see you now.”

Khadgar told him that the angels that sat on the council had been chosen by God Himself. They presided in the temple at the centre of Heaven. They were the only one to be able to talk with God. Lothar frowned.

They entered the temple side by side. However, as soon as they were inside, Khadgar pushed him forward and stood to the side. Lothar continued alone.

The six angels stared at him from their elevated seat. Lothar could feel their minds prodding his. He swallowed uncomfortably.

“Our saviour,” the angel who looked the oldest spoke up. Lothar knew angels did not age but this one sported a very long beard and was bald. His blue wings did not shine with the vitality Khadgar’s own wings showed.

“I don’t know how to address you,” Lothar said truthfully.

“I am called Antonidas,” the angel introduced himself. “We understand you have a request.”

Lothar swallowed again. He turned to look at Khadgar, who nodded energetically at him. Lothar turned back towards Antonidas.

“I desire to be sent back to Earth.”

Antonidas frowned. “Your soul is that of a dead man. Dead men aren’t allowed on Earth.”

“I know. As I fought against Sargeras, it seemed I died.”

“You’ve used Lilith,” the wise angel remarked.

Confused, Lothar asked: “pardon?”

“Lilith. The blood of angels. The only weapon capable of killing a demon… Sargeras.”

Lothar suddenly understood. “The blood-soaked blade,” he confirmed.

“Lilith does not allow anyone to yield her, and certainly not without a price. You’ve used her and so she’s taken your life.”

Lothar felt his confidence waver. “Can you undo that?” He asked awkwardly.

Antonidas laughed. “No,” he said. Lothar's heart broke. “You've done well, human. Accept the eternal rest Lilith has offered you.”

Fighting back tears, Lothar turned around, not even bothering to bid the council goodbye. He rushed past Khadgar who reached for him. When he felt Khadgar stop, he turned and incited him: “Khadgar, let’s go.”

But the angel stared decidedly at the other angels. He stormed towards the centre of the roof and called out to Antonidas.

“Why has God allowed Sargeras to infiltrate Heaven?”

The question sent ripples through the room. The angels turned and whispered to each over. Alone, Antonidas stared at Khadgar silently.

“Antonidas,” Khadgar insisted. “Where is God?”

A deep sigh escaped the angel. The other five fell silent, waiting for his answer.

“We don’t know,” Antonidas eventually admitted.

“What?” Lothar exclaimed, slamming his hand against his mouth.

Khadgar was trembling with fury.

“You don't know?” He gritted out. “What do they pay you for?”

“We’re not-”

“Shut up!” Khadgar ordered, making the six angels gasp. “What you won’t do, I’ll do it myself. If you want to banish me for it, then so be it.”

Swivelling around, Khadgar gestured for Lothar to step forward.

“Stand perfectly still. This is going to hurt.”

Lothar obeyed. He heard Antonidas protesting but his words seemed farther and farther away. Khadgar's eyes were all that mattered.

There was a flash of light and Lothar’s mind dissolved in a world of pain.

************

“Anduin!”

His whole body hurt. He groaned.

“Anduin, oh my God, answer me, please.”

_God._

Lothar’s eyes flew open. His worried sister's face came into view.

“Oh, thank the Heavens,” she cried.

“You might want to thank Khadgar instead,” he whispered, voice rough.

His throat felt like he had been screaming for a million years.

“You’ve been asleep for four days. We thought you wouldn't wake up. Sallie found you in that forest we fought that werewolf, remember?” Taria said.

Lothar nodded.

“Khadgar allowed me to return to Earth,” he told her. “I think he sacrificed himself for me…”

“Is he awake?” Llane’s voice asked behind the door.

“Yes!” Taria answered him

Llane entered the room. In his arms, he was cradling a baby. Lothar's eyes widened.

“What is this…?” He asked.

Taria’s eyes shone with tears even as she smiled.

“This is our daughter,” she told him, “Adariall.”

Lothar’s heart constricted as he heard his mother’s name. With help from Taria, he sat up on the bed. Llane handed him the little girl. Her large eyes stared at him curiously. She looked far from being a new-born.

“Wait.” Dread filled his chest suddenly. “How long have I been missing?”

Taria’s eyes filled with fresh tears.

Putting a hand on his wife’s shoulder, Llane answered him.

“You were gone for two years,” he said.

Lothar's mind twirled. At once, he remembered his fall from Heaven, how terrifying it had seemed. It had been over quickly enough, he had thought. But in reality, he had been falling for…

“Two years…?” He repeated.

His heart missed a beat.

“But,” he panicked, “Khadgar! He’s been all alone this whole time! We have to find him! We have to-”

“Relax,” Llane said. “We’ve got him.”

Lothar’s breath caught in his throat.

“And he’ll be overjoyed to see you,” Taria added.

With help, Lothar exited the room and was led to the living room. He stopped short at the entrance, however, when he caught sight of Khadgar.

Standing above the table, glasses on his nose as he perused a heavy book, the sunlight coming in from the window behind him created like a halo around his head. He turned when he heard the footsteps.

The look on his face was priceless. Lothar took one step forward. He heard the door close behind him and he understood Llane and Taria had preferred to give them some privacy.

“Lothar,” Khadgar whispered. “Oh, Lothar!”

He engulfed him in a hug.

“Oh, it’s been so long…!” He marvelled, head burrowed in Lothar’s neck.

“Has it?” Lothar asked, stunned to feel the angel’s warm body beneath his fingers.

Khadgar took a step back, running his eyes all over him, making him blush.

Suddenly worried, he asked: “What do you remember last?”

“I remember you,” he answered, “in the council’s room.”

Khadgar’s eyes widened. “I have so much to tell you,” he whispered.

“But Khadgar,” Lothar said, “first tell me- have you found God?”

Khadgar smiled at the same time as his eyes darkened.

“No,” he told him, “but not for lack of trying.” A beat. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

“Me too,” Lothar admitted.

Tentatively, Lothar brushed a finger across Khadgar’s jaw. The former angel shivered. Lothar frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

Khadgar sighed. “I know it feels like yesterday for you, but…” 

Lothar’s face fell as understanding dawned on him.

“I see,” he said flatly.

“I just need time, is all?” Khadgar begged. “I’m sorry. You’ve been gone two years and… I don’t even know where we stood before that.”

Lothar nodded. “I get it. We’ll figure it out,” he smiled. “But for now, we have a God to find.”

They exited the living room to find Llane and Taria. They found them in the kitchen, where a surprise was waiting for them. 

“Medivh!” Lothar greeted warmly.

The angel stood up to receive the other man’s hug. Then, he smiled warmly at Khadgar.

“I've been helping your sister on her hunts since you’ve been gone,” Medivh explained. “I’m so glad to see you, old friend.”

Lothar ignored the twisting feeling in his gut as he realized just how much he had missed. As Llane addressed Khadgar, and Taria and Medivh joined the conversation, Lothar leaned back and observed. In this room was every single person he held dear. His sister, who had been looking after him ever since their parents died. His brother in law and best friend since age ten, who had always been the greatest support in both their lives. Medivh, his guardian angel turned mortal turned angel again, who had not ceased saving his life since he was born. And of course, the beautiful and dazzling ex-angel which had stolen his heart faster than he could have ever predicted, who he could not wait to court properly this time…

Feeling the weight of his gaze, Khadgar turned towards him and smiled.

Suddenly, Lothar knew. Everything that had ever occurred to him until now, every single choice he had made and things he had said, had been worth it, if only for the width of Khadgar’s smile.


End file.
